When I was little, on the morning of the first day of school, my parents would gather my sisters and me and we’d all have bread and a piece of gooey, dripping (but delicious) honeycomb. The idea, they said, was that learning should be sweet.

Years later, when I had kids of my own, I remembered that tradition. But I tweaked it a little. For years, on the morning of the first day of school, I’ve made my kids special pancakes in the shape of the letters A, B, and C. We slather them with maple syrup or any other sugary topping, and wolf them down. The idea remains the same: learning is sweet.

About five years ago, when my youngest was finishing up Kindergarten, I wanted to mark the end of the year in a way that would celebrate her accomplishments and gently remind her that even though school was over for the year, the sweetness of learning never ends. So a new tradition was born, and every year, on the morning of the last day of school, I make a different batch of pancakes. This one in the shape of the letters X, Y, and Z.